Police keep Suu Kyi's supporters at bay

Hundreds of armed police kept supporters away from the second day of Burma’s democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s closed-door trial today.

Suu Kyi, her two companions under house arrest, and an American, John Yettaw, are being tried together for violating the conditions of her restriction order, which bans visitors without official permission. The offence is punishable by up to five years jail.

Yettaw prompted the charges by swimming to her property and sneaking into her home for reasons that are still unclear.

Police in full riot gear were deployed along all roads leading to Rangoon’s Insein prison as the trial continued.

About 100 Suu Kyi supporters gathered peacefully near the prison but were blocked by a ring of barbed wire around Insein. Key activist groups, which had spearheaded a failed 2007 uprising against the regime, have vowed to hold demonstrations and prayer vigils until Suu Kyi is freed.

One of Suu Kyi’s lawyers, Kyi Win, said more of the 22 prosecution witnesses the government was to call up would appear at Tuesday’s hearing, which was also attended by a US consular official.

Last week’s arrest of the Nobel Peace laureate, who has been under house detention without trial for more than 13 of the past 19 years, reignited criticism of Burma’s military junta, and led to renewed calls by world leaders for her immediate release.

Even Burma’s partners in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations which rarely criticise one another, expressed “grave concern,” saying “the honour and the credibility of the (Burma government) are at stake”.

Until now, 63-year-old Suu Kyi was detained under the State Protection Act, which allows the military regime to hold people without a trial if they are considered a threat. The new charges of violating the terms of her house arrest could lead to imprisonment under much harsher conditions.

Suu Kyi had been scheduled to be freed on May 27 after six consecutive years of house arrest, but it was expected that the military government would try to find reason to hold her, as has happened in the past.

The new charges are widely seen as a pretext for the government to keep Suu Kyi out of elections it scheduled for next spring as the culmination of its “roadmap to democracy”, which has been criticised as an attempt to legitimise continued military control. Many other prominent dissidents received long jail terms last year, which could hurt any opposition effort to contest the polls.